Pakistan earns $654.93 million from IT services’ export during July-Sept

01 December 2023

Published in: The Nation

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan earned $654.930 million by providing different information technology (IT) services in various countries during the first three months of the current fiscal year 2023-24.
This shows a growth of 3.31 per cent as compared with the $633.938 million earned through the provision of services during the corresponding months of the last fiscal year 2022-23, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported. During the months under review, the export of computer services grew by 3.33 per cent as it surged from $516.318 million last year to $533.510 million during July-September 2023.
Among the computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed an increase of 57.31 per cent, from $0.923 million to $1.452 million this year while the export of hardware consultancy services dipped by 2.28 per cent, from $186.6015 million to $182.367 million. The export of repair and maintenance services increased by 31.65 per cent from $0.218 million to $0.287 million whereas the export and imports of computer software services also surged by 7.25 per cent, from $142.793 million to $153.001 million. Meanwhile, the export of information services during the months under review dipped by 31.07 per cent from $1.030 million to $0.710 million.
Among the information services, the exports of information-related services increased by 13.29 per cent, from $286.00 million to $0.324 million whereas the exports of news agency services however declined by 48.12 per cent, from $0.744 million to $0.386 million. The export of telecommunication services increased by 3.53 per cent as these went up from $116.590 million to $120.710 million, the data revealed. Among the telecommunication services, the export of call centers services increased by 1.95 per cent during the months as its exports increased from $53.365 million to $54.407 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services also increased by 4.87 per cent, from $63.225 million to $66.303 million during this year, the PBS data revealed.
Meanwhile, food group exports from the country during the first four months of the current financial year grew by 30.29 per cent as compared to the exports of the corresponding period of last year. During the period from July-October, 2023, food commodities valuing $1.944 billion were exported as compared to the exports of $1.492 billion in the same period of last year, according to the trade data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
In the last 04 months, the exports of commodities including rice grew by 30.12 per cent, fruits by 13.53 per cent, pulses by 80.08 per cent, spices by 24.56 per cent, sugar by 100 per cent, meat and meat preparations grew by 18.77 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, the exports of fish and fish products decreased by 7.96 per cent, vegetables by 37.89 per cent and tobacco by 20.97 per cent respectively. In the last 04 months of the current financial year, over 1.054 million tons of rice valued at $710.788 million were exported as compared to the exports of 981,589 metric tons costing $546.262 million in the same period of the last year. The country also earned $108.995 million by exporting about 216,238 metric tons of fresh fruits during the period under review as against the exports of 150,985 metric tons valued at $96.003 million in the same period of last year.
During the period from July-October, 2023, over 96 metric tons of pulses valued at $84,000 were also exported as compared to the exports of 48 metric tons worth $47,000 in the same period of last year. On the other hand, the food group imports into the country went down by 23.25 per cent as food commodities worth $2.633 billion were imported in the last four months as compared to the imports of $3.431 billion in the same period of last year. During the period under review, the commodities which recorded negative growth in their imports including milk, cream and food for infants at 19.20 per cent, wheat un-milled at 63.82 per cent, spices at 3.73 per cent, soya bean oil at 33.08 per cent, palm oil at 31.45 per cent and sugar import into the country decreased by 46.37 per cent.